As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use, such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems typically require maintenance and servicing. For example, a system administrator may desire to replace a motherboard on the information handling system due to a system upgrade or a faulty component. Current designs of information handling systems, however, require the administrator to remove several wires and cables. As such, manufacturers strive to make improvements to information handling systems. One improvement includes a modular design that reduces or eliminates the internal wires or cables within the information handling system such as a modular based computer system.
The modular based computer system uses modular components, such as daughter cards, that couple directly to each other via connectors. Typically, the daughter cards are placed along guide tracks, which allow the connector on the daughter cards to align with another component to connect and disconnect the daughter cards. For example, a modular based computer system may include a motherboard that has several slots. Each slot is able to receive a connector from a daughter card by moving the daughter card along a guide track to connect to the motherboard. By using modular components with connectors, the information handling system may reduce the amount of internal wiring within the system.
In most modular based computer systems, a system administrator removes all the daughter cards connected to the motherboard in order to perform maintenance on the information handling system. Typically, the cards are lifted out of the system and set aside to allow the motherboard to be removed without the danger of the cards moving back into a connected position with the motherboard. If care is not taken with the removed daughter cards, the daughter cards may be subject to damage or loss. For example, a daughter card may accidentally fall from a counter top and become damaged.
In addition to damage to the daughter card from outside of the information handling system, the daughter cards may be subject to further damage due to electrical shock from inadequate electrical grounding. Because each card is built as a modular component, each card may develop static electricity. In some instances, the static electricity may affect the operation of the card due to improper grounding.